Don't Wake Me Up

You're forced to romance Len for any chance at a good ending. You're also put on Asterius' route if you don't romance Len (though it's not necessarily romantic). I can only speak as to what happens on Asterius' route as I sure won't replay to experience Len's and I'm also going on memories over a year old now, but it got very cliché and frankly quite dull to read even before the endings. Things happening very fast that I didn't care for in chapter five, with a plot twist that ruined my investment in the characters and story. [spoiler] It turns out the characters' backgrounds were a complete lie. Were you happy for Em to see her long-lost brother? Were you excited to work as a team with Len, Asterius, Em, and Orion? Haha, nope. Seriously, why would you think that's a good plot twist? [/spoiler] I also wanted to see the rest of Lydia's story, but you don't even hear from her past chapter four (which itself was fine, though pretty short and unmemorable). I wasn't a fan of playing through chapter three. It's a puzzle level which I don't care for in IFs, however the story [i]was[/i] pretty great in it... [spoiler] before you learn Orion and Em's backstories are made up, anyway. [/spoiler] I would not say any endings on Asterius' route are narratively satisfying either, didn't feel like the story was building up to any of them. [spoiler] For example in the "Wake Me Up" branch, why is Len here to scold the MC how for they treated him? I mean, it makes sense, yeah, but MC's backstory came out of nowhere and Len wasn't even in the previous chapter. So very jarring.[/spoiler] In particular, I think they might've been meant for an MC that had an unhealthy attachment to Asterius/Len, but that really wasn't my MC and so it fell completely flat for me. In hindsight, I might've hyped up the first two chapters too much also - there doesn't seem to be much replayability aside from choosing whether you'll be romancing Len or Asterius... which I didn't even do in my first playthrough and sure won't after the plot twists. My semi-joke suggestion would be to play the first two chapters and then make up a story in your head for what happens next. Don't wake up and play the rest of the game! But really, I was so intrigued by the story and how things might play out only to be severely disappointed by the last half of it. If all chapters were as thrilling as the first two (and pretty replayable), this would most certainly be one of my top three IFs. [edited to fix a typo]

三周目成功触发真实结局—— （凌晨两点通关很开心但是今天上班起床真的好痛苦hhhh） （打的好累cog不能存档属实折磨） （我有段时间没法直视乙女和galgame了hhh） （玩的是机翻，因为上班路上用手机看的，没法像之前玩其它cog时那样用deepl一段段翻译，外加来回撤回开启翻译对照原文很麻烦，可能剧情细节理解出现偏差嗯。） 我得说一开始是被宣传里的“终极大礼帽”吸引进来的（bushi） 谁不喜欢万能进可攻退可守还能打辅助的你命中注定的终极大礼帽！！！！ 游戏里要素过多，包括但不限于虚拟歌姬,OC,冬天舔灯柱,DAO,FF15爬楼梯（双厨狂喜了属于是hhh） 这个he没有那么完美，甚至还有点现实（结局名非常准确hhh） [spoiler] 主角和莱恩在试图说服其它ai首席设计师一起反抗无果后跑去掀起了ai和玩家对游戏公司的反抗（ai人权起义hhh）（里面其实有一些说服玩家站到主角和莱恩这边的选项，但鉴于在我看来即使摆出莱恩和主角之间的感情也没法改变一些玩家认为ai就是一个没有人权物品的看法。所以那些选项我全选了如果让ai和人一样对玩家也好也罢是互惠互利的。其它选项不敢选，不过也许我太悲观了hhh） 结局是主角和创造莱恩的格蕾丝被终生禁止进入游戏里（笑死毕竟都和公司对着干了） 虽然前景还不是很明确，但ai都能获得一个身体活在现实生活中www 莱恩活下来了，但为了在现实中活下去依旧在做以前的事（剧情里主角有选项吐槽他“你居然还想要变成吸血鬼”）虽然还在游戏公司手上，不知道什么时候会被下手，但在现实里努力获得和公司相抗衡的力量 主角被开除力——但是是世界上最受欢迎的游戏制作人了！（没有老板！！有什么不好！！） [/spoiler] 虽然有缺憾[spoiler] （比如主角的ai儿子选择出厂设置重新来一遍呜呜呜） [/spoiler]，但依旧是一个足够充满希望的故事 [spoiler] （be he的分叉点看了作者在论坛上的说法，似乎是在第五章崩溃那边？不确定在此之前的其它亲密选项会不会影响到，但莱恩会主动要你选亲密选项甚至在拒绝后第二次邀请——很会骗人的莱恩嗯。） [/spoiler] 总之打出了he！顺利毕业！！ 希望故事里的主角和六个ai能在这个故事的世界里依照自己的心意活的开心吧wwww 很有意思的题材，看到世界上原来有人也和我一样想过关于“我喜欢的虚拟人物会如何看待他们本身和这个世界”的问题，很开心，嘿嘿。

This game was a chef's kiss, doubled! The research and game references were on point, and the ending surprised me in the best way. Len's route hit me deep. It made me reflect on my choices like a real-life moral compass. The author didn't just throw in romance options for cheap thrills; they gave them all depth and personality that you slowly uncover through your decisions. It was like getting to know actual people, not just pixelated eye candy. Speaking of choices, this game is packed with endings! My first attempt landed me in the bad ending zone, which just fuels the fire for my next playthrough. Wish me luck!

It's hilarious, loved the jokes, the whole thing feels like videogames parody.

*Incredibly* hit or miss type of game due to a number of reasons that other negative reviewers have touched upon. The prose is so beyond campy it's hard to take anything in the story seriously. There's also a puzzle section, which is so bad there is an optional in-game guide included that spells out the solution for you. Hooray. But more crucially, Don't Wake Me Up is very much structurally different from typical Choice of/Hosted Games titles: you don't really have stats, you don't really have stat checks, and you don't really have choices either. ...Well, you do, but not like that. Instead of a lot of accumulated story and romance decisions that ultimately determine the final act and ending of the story, like these titles usually do, Don't Wake Me Up is instead structured like a visual novel from twenty years past. Make the right decisions, get the good ending. Make the wrong decisions, get the bad ending. Except there's a lot more decisions than in a visual novel, obtuse ones, inside all the comedy and whatnot. And yes, even the one decision that a lot of negative reviews don't like: one of the two romanceable characters has only bad endings. This could be fine, if the bad ending was *satisfying* in some way. But it's really not, and it seems almost purposefully designed to make you feel bad for ending up there. Visual novels get away with these kinds of endings because of good save systems, and because there is almost always a 'good' ending for the character somewhere. You messed up, everything went bad, go back and make better choices. But here, there's no better ending. If you don't like the other romanceable character, having a feelbad ending is simply alienating to the player instead of encouraging them to replay for a better one. I really feel like the epilogue ruins the whole thing, a slap in the face for no good reason. It was as though the author realized the route left a lot of questions unanswered, worried that people wouldn't want to play his game again to find the 'true' ending, and slapped together an epilogue that explained what was going on but raised more questions. In the process, they got lost in the sauce and instead of intriguing the ending became a massive letdown.

Good game. Only one ending as far, sad one.

wow. this game hit home for me in ways i never thought possible. this was the first game that ever made me have to get up from my computer and take a long walk to reconsider my own relationship with my craft. this game is funny, poingent, and seriously one of the most interesting game experiences i've had in a long time. i highly reccomend it to my fellow lonely nerds, escapism enthusiasts, tumblr users, and artists who need a break from the world.